EMU's Third-String Punter Drama

Ralph Friedgen took a full minute to explain to the media the Eastern Michigan punting situation. After hearing it on my tape recorder, I found it even more enthralling and hilarious than before. This kind of quirky thing – figuring out the jersey number of Eastern Michigan’s third-string punter -- is one of the reasons why I love college sports and have never had a desire to cover pro sports. Well, this and AAU sleaze.

“Their punting game is a little bit unusual,” Friedgen said. “They have three different punters. (Joe) Carithers is No. 38 and he has punted seven times. No. 33 has come in, Zach Johnson, and he has punted twice. He is right-footed also. They had a guy, No. 66, I don’t know if they changed his number to No. 39. We believe it is Patrick Treppa. He is a left-footed punter. And he has kicked eight punts. The reason they are right- and left-footed; they rugby punt, so we need to know if they are going to rugby punt to the right or rugby punt to the left. Stay tuned on that one. I have to figure out who is who on that one, to be honest with you.”

I’m going to have to do some investigating reporting on this punter situation. This calls for a Freedom of Information Act request or two. This is serious business.

I have no idea why Ralph thinks Patrick Treppa changed his jersey number from No. 66 to No. 39. According to Eastern Michigan’s roster, Treppa wears No. 66 and defensive back Eric Morrison wears No. 39. I may be the only one, but I will have my keen eye out for Treppa come Saturday. He is a 5-10, 157-pound sophomore from Livonia, Mich., and he made the academic honor roll and dean’s list at Livonia Stevenson High School. That does not solve the jersey mystery. As Ralph said, stay tuned!